Try Number 3 of the NPT

May 29th, 2007
It's the big day! I have my pack ready and put it on the bathroom scale. Hooray, only 35 pounds with 5 days food and 3 liters of water too! Randy is driving me up to the drop off point, Wakely Dam and we leave about 0730. We get to the Dam about 0915 and after a stop in the "facility", Randy takes a couple of pics and off I go at about 0930. The route from Wakely Dam to Lake Durant is 12.5 miles with 6.6 of it a walk along the road (Cedar River road). Of course I'm moving right along at a good clip. At 1130 I stop and sit on a boulder at the end of someone's driveway and eat the sandwich I brought. A lady in a red station wagon stops and asks if I've seed a dog. She lost it 2 days ago and thru the grapevine heard it was in this area. I told her I hadn't seen a dog but I'd keep an eye out for it. She offered a ride but I told her what I was doing and she wished me luck and drove on. I finish my sandwich and head for McCanes where the trail turns into the woods. I get to McCanes about 1215 and head into the woods. As soon as I get in there the black flies strike. I put on my head net and spray my arms with repellant. Happy day, no bugs in my eyes, ears, nose or mouth. This net is worth every penny. I'm hoping to stop at Stephen's Pond for an afternoon rest and snack but miss the turn off. I don't realize it tho till I get to the trail intersection and see that the Pond is .6 mile behind me. Oh well. The sign says 2.5 miles to Lake Durant. I make the right turn and a little way down the trail find a suitable log and take off my pack and have a snack. My right calf is bothering me a little but since the trail has been relatively smooth and level, I can't imagine what the problem is. I've been going at quite a good clip, perhaps I'm going too fast and have strained something? Anyway, I pack up and head for the campsite, trying to go a little slower and give the leg a break. I get to Lake Durant campsite at 1515, now limping. I go to the ranger check in gate and a sign is posted that they'll be back at 1600, pick a campsite and come back then. So, I go down to campsite 4, the place Randy, Elizabeth and I camped in 2004. It is a lakeside site and down the bank to the lake are some handy rocks for sitting on and putting your feet in the water, which I did. That made my feet very happy. Near 1600 I put my socks and boots back on and take a couple photos of a white trillium and of the lake. I leave my pack at the site and hobble down to the ranger station. I pay my site fee and promise not to feed the animals. I take a minute at the gate to use the public phone. I give Randy a call and say I'm here OK but have some leg pain. If I don't call you by 8AM tomorrow, I'm on my way to Long Lake. Back to the site where I begin to set up. While putting up my tent, a female mallard comes calling. Pretty bold, she comes up to within a couple of feet of me but I tell her, no one loves you, no one is feeding you, go away. She hangs around awhile but since no food is forthcoming, she finally leaves. Tent finally up, I bring out my dinner and take a timer picture of me at the stove. Tonight is AlpinAire Tamale Pie. Looks like red mush with corn kernals but tastes OK, if spicy. I use the freezer bag method of cooking it which saves me the trouble of washing the pan. It's about 17300 with lots of daylight left. I go to the wash room and use the facilities and take a quick sponge bath to wipe away the sticky sweat so I'll sleep better. Then back to the site and sit at the picnic table for awhile reading. By 1830, the bugs are getting bad so I get into the tent, change into sleeping clothes and get under the bug net I've installed in the tent. Hoo Hoo! Works like a charm. Also money well spent. By 2000 I'm tired and it's hard to keep holding the book up comfortably while laying down. So, I put everything away and go to sleep. Some noises keep me up for a few minutes. There's a squirrel outside the tent chattering, birds flying in the bushes nearby, the frog chorus starts up but that's all normal. I'm asleep in no time. It's hard getting used to sleeping on the hard ground. I wake up about once an hour or more to roll over because my hip or shoulder hurts but I go right back to sleep.

At 0430, a bird is in the bushes outside my tent beginning the morning chorus. I think it's too early so I roll over and go back to sleep till 0530. While getting out of my sleeping bag I get tangled in my bug net (which worked great all night and never got in my way) and ripped the high point tab off the net. Drat! Me with no sewing kit. Lesson 1 for this trip - Pack a needle or two and some thread. Oh well, that's what duct tape is for. I get up and out of the tent. A really pretty morning with the sun just coming up over the trees around the east end of the lake and a light mist on the water. Too cold for bugs yet. I get some water going for tea, and test my leg. Uh Oh - still tight. I pop a couple of asprin, both for my leg and for my back and I do some stretching and tell myself I'll see how it feels after breakfast and I try on the loaded pack. I cook my rice cereal with a handful of gorp, yummy. I go to the facilities where I can brush teeth, wash up and clean my pot. This place even has flush toilets! I pack up my site and put on the pack. Leg isn't 100% but I think I can make it to Long Lake. Today's hike is the longest of the 5 days, 15.6 miles to the Caitlin Bay lean-to, up the trail from Long Lake. So I check out at the Ranger Gate and start on my way. I try to go a little slower than yesterday, taking care of my leg. The trail is pretty much like yesterday's but past Tirrell Pond, the guide book says it's the most difficult part of the NPT. I stop for a snack at about 1015 near O'Neil Flow lean-to. I've done 3.5 miles and my leg is hurting. I give myself a 15 minute break then pack up and move on. By 1130 I get the next mile done, going very slowly. I stop at the Tirrell Pond lean-to for a rest and lunch. The sun has been beating on the front of the lean-to and feels really good against the back of my sore leg. I wash my hands and eat my gorp and jerky, watching the birds and the red squirrels and chipmunks. Tirrell Pond is a beauty, and unlike most Adirondack lakes, actually has a sand beach. A really nice spot. Anyway, a red squirrel comes right up into the lean-to, not 2 feet from where I'm sitting. Looks all around then out the back near the roof. Two chipmunks come near too, but run under the lean-to. Both the squirrels and the chipmunks must be in mating season cause they race around the clearing in front of the lean-to chasing others, perhaps prospective mates? Anyway, they make a heck of a lot of noise about it. At 1215 I get up to put my pack on and my leg hardly wants to move. Big decision, do I take the Tirrell Pond trail out to Blue Mountain Lake (3.3 miles to Rt 30 then 2 miles to the Blue Mountain Lake Post Office and public phone) or hike on to Long Lake 10.2 miles away? I give myself till the trail intersection, .3 mile away to decide. On the way I can really feel the leg and lifting it or flexing my foot is a painful effort. Getting over a fallen log really hurts. I get to the trail intersection and decide that since the way to Long Lake is supposed to be the toughest part of the trail, I'm not really in any shape to cover that ground. So I turn left, off of the NPT and head to Blue Mountain Lake. Lucky me; trying to avoid the toughest part of the NPT I'm on an old, washed out logging road. Nothing but rocks and mud pits and uphill too. Every time I trip on a rock or stub the toe of my boot on a rock or falled branch, pain. The only good thing at this point is that while it's uphill, it's not too steep. On I trudge, going so slowly it seems like I'll be on the trail come night fall but of course, nothing actually lasts forever and I get to the height of land where the trail smooths out and levels off. I have to reapply repellant at this point, whatever I sprayed on this morning has worn off. I take a drink and put my pack back on. On I trudge. I'm going so slowly that I'm not sure how much ground I've covered but a little way down the trail, I'm thinking now about 2 miles from the highway, I hear some crashing in the bushes to my left and ahead of me. I think back to the squirrels at Tirrell Pond and I'm not concerned. Then I see a dark shape break out of the bushes about 50 - 60 feet ahead of me and crossing the trail on a dead run back into the woods. At first I thought, Oh, someone's dog is loose. Then: Oh my God! That's a bear! I stop dead in the trail and even forget about my leg for a whole minute. Now what do I do! Obviously my shuffling thru last years dead leaves made enough noise to scare off the bear. I give it another minute to get well on its way then I proceed along the trail, banging my hiking stick on every rock I come to, making as much noise as I can. I go along, pretty much downhill now till I get to Rt 30 without incident at about 1415. It's taken me 2 hours to go 3.3 miles. This trailhead is just north of the Adirondack museum and is also the trailhead for the climb up Blue Mountain. I trek down the road to the village and get to the phone at about 3:15 and call Randy for rescue. I sat on the Post Office steps waiting for him. By the time he got there, about 1620, my leg had stiffened up to the point it didn't want to move at all.

We got home and I left the gear in my 3 season room and went for a shower. Since we didn't want to cook, we went to a nearby restaurant where I had 1/2 a steak and baked potato. We got home about 2000 and I was so tired I went right to bed and slept till 0600 this morning. My leg still didn't want to move, lots of stiffness. I did some stretching and took some asprin. I felt like I should have gone on to Long Lake but this afternoon I did a squat and my calf and thigh could hardly make the movement. So I guess I made the best decision I could. The trail will be there next month.

So Lessons Learned:
Bring sewing kit
Keep speed down so I don't pull/sprain/strain anything